New Zealand Equality Education Foundation

(incorporating the International Ex-Fetus Association)

Dumb Bleat on Dads

© Peter Zohrab 2006

(Open Letter to Judith Collins MP)

Judith, why would I think your dumb bleat on dads ("Rich dads owe millions" NZ Herald Sunday October 22, 2006
at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0005488E-0337-153A-BC5B83027AF1010F) was hypocritical?

Well, consider this:

• I have never heard you, as National Party Social Welfare Spokeswoman, criticise women -- are women faultless?
• You refused to see me, when I tried to make an appointment to see you -- what are you scared of ?
• You have got wherever you have got, in your career so far, on the back of bleats about "Equality for Women" -- but the word "equality" is strangely absent from the above article.

  And this is why:

1. Is it Equality for men to have no right to be sure that their children are actually their own -- women always know that their children are their own, and so the government should fund compulsory paternity testing on request of a family member.
2. Is it Equality that only women get to sign an abortion consent form ? What if the father didn't believe in abortion ? Or, on the other hand, what if he didn't want to be saddled with Child-Support payments ?
3. Is it Equality for only one parent in a couple to get government Family Support payments ? The State forces the couple to make an arbitrary decision as to who will be deemed the "main" provider of care for the children -- and, surprise! surprise!, couples usually put the woman's name down, to conform with conventional thinking, if for no other reason.
4. Is it Equality for men to lose custody (day-to-day care) on separation, in the vast majority of cases? (According to the New Zealand Herald of Wednesday September 6 2006, 65% of day-to-day care orders are awarded to mothers, 11% to fathers, about 12% to another party, and 12% to a shared-care arrangement). It cannot be sincerely argued that men don't seek custody because they don't want it -- if it is clear they will lose if they go to court, then there is no point in their taking the matter to court.

   You have the smug look of a typical Feminist lawyer -- out to get the maximum for women and to ignore the needs of men. Because you know you can get away with it!

   The bottom line is that men are not brought up to fight with women to get their rights, so -- faced with an unfair system -- they do what they can to escape its consequences.

   Don't be a hypocrite! Make the system fair for men!!

Last Update: 24 October 2006